What is Good Blog Writing?

Here it is for the umpteenth time: revise until spelling, grammar, and syntax are ready for public view, in other words, absolutely correct. I do my best, which doesn’t mean perfect. I’ve found myself revising posts.

My favorite non-fiction writing centers on emotions felt by the characters, whose feelings trigger actions that evolve into anecdotes or stories. Both story and anecdote have a beginning, middle, and end. I’m working on my posts until they look a little more like that. I believe a good nonfiction writer takes you by the hand and leads you through the door and into a setting. But too often, the start of a typical post of mine would begin with me at my computer, staring out of the window, trying to decide what to write.

Right now I can imagine an alternative beginning for a future post, wrangling with my satellite Internet installers. During the satellite service installation, I’m imagining the installers asking questions I can’t answer. I’m imagining that those trees to the south, which they had said earlier would not interfere with reception from the equator-hovering satellite itself, actually do pose interference, but it’s too late to get a refund for the equipment.

Nonfiction story writing experts suggest escalating conflict until there is a declared winner, or loser. In that post, I would include installers’ frantic cell phone calls to headquarters, their facial expressions, body language, and anything else that would help my reader get a picture of what’s going on. Basically, I’d try to include all sensual input, what I see, smell, hear, touch, or taste.

At the end of that post, I deeply hope that I can declare myself a winner, that I’d have a high speed service, a clearer path to a wider variety in cyberspace, and that I will be able to offer you all the how’s, the what’s, the who’s, the where’s, and the why’s.

On “Online Journalism Review”, its article, “How to Write for The Web,” offers some good tips. Log onto:

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/wiki/Writing/